Grant v Hayes
2014
CHANCERY DIVISION
United Kingdom
CORAM
- MR JUSTICE NUGEE
Areas of Law
- Tort Law
- Civil Procedure
- Banking and Finance Law
2014
CHANCERY DIVISION
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Mr. Timothy Hayes sought relief against Mr. Willoughby for harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Initial rulings in favor of Mr. Willoughby were reversed by the Court of Appeal, and further scrutinized by the Supreme Court, which concluded Willoughby's conduct was irrational and obsessive post-2007. Subsequently, Mr. Stephen Grant, the Trustee in Bankruptcy for Mr. Hayes, initiated proceedings to nullify the outcomes on grounds of bankruptcy. The court held that claims post-2007 did not vest in the Trustee, leading to summary judgment favoring Mr. Hayes and dismissing Mr. Grant's action.
JUDGMENT
Friday, 11 th July 2014 .
JUDGMENT:
MR JUSTICE NUGEE:
01 I have before me an application by Mr Timothy Hayes in proceedings which have been brought against him by Mr Stephen Grant, who is his Trustee in Bankruptcy, he having been made bankrupt in 2005 on the petition of his ex-wife Mrs Carol Hayes and having been discharged from that bankruptcy sometime in the Spring of 2006. I am told there is a dispute as to whether the date of discharge is as Mr Hayes contends 23 rd March or as Mrs Hayes and Mr Grant apparently contend 1 st April 2006 but that dispute does not need to be gone into for the purposes of this application. This is the second of my judgments in a series of connected actions and applications, the first of which I gave on 12 th June 2014, in that case in relation to an appeal by Mrs Hayes against the dismissal of a further bankruptcy petition which she had sought against Mr Hayes. In that judgment (‘Judgment No 1’) I set out some of the background to the unfortunate disputes which have bedevilled the relations between Mr and Mrs Hayes and various other people for a very long time and I do not intend to repeat the whole background now.
02 The present application arises out of proceedings taken in the Cambridge County Court by Mr Hayes against a Mr Willoughby under the provisions of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Those proceedings were commenced with reference 9CB01831 in I believe 2009 and in the original Particulars of Claim which do not appear to be dated Mr Hayes said:
‘By this action the Claimant seeks an injunction retraining the Defendant from harassing the Claimant and his wife Margaret Hayes and damages for harassment.’
He then set out the facts on which he relied, including at para. 4 an allegation:
‘Since March 2003 the Defendant has maintained an unrelenting campaign against the Claimant.’
03 Those proceedings have been amended. The Amended Particulars of Claim which are before me and again do not appear to be dated again start with a claim for an injunction. By this stage Mr Hayes had been joined by his current wife Mrs Margaret Hayes as Claimant, and in para. 1 of the Amended Particulars of Claim both Claimants sought an injunction restraining the Defendant from harassing them as well as damages for harassment and aggravated damages and in the case of the First Claimant Mr Hayes Special Damages. The Amended Particulars of Claim continue to allege at para. 10 that since March 2003 the Defendant has maintai